Travis Kelce spoke publicly for the first time since he announced that he was going to return to the Kansas City bosses during his podcast that was launched on Wednesday.
Kelce, 35, initially said that he was “kicking every can on the way” regarding his decision to retire in the episode shortly after the defeat of the Super Bowl of the Chiefs before the Eagles Philadelphia.
The closed star wing said, ultimately, he still loves to play football as part of the reason for his return.
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The closed wing of Kansas City Chiefs Travis Kelce, #87, during a press conference before Super Bowl Lix in New Orleans Marriott. (Images of Stephen Lew-Imagn)
“I think the most important thing is that I love playing the football game,” Kelce said. “I still feel that I can play at a high level and possibly at a higher level than last year. I don’t think it was my best way out. I think I disappointed my boys in many more moments than I helped them,” Kelce said about “new heights.”
“Especially if you look at my history and how I have been in past years. I want to give it a good career. I have a bad taste in the mouth in how I finished the year and how well I was playing and how responsible it was for the people around me. And I love so many people in the city of Kansas, both in that installation and in the community, and it is the home of me.
“I don’t want to leave that life yet. I have done a lot of hard work and I focused a lot on being the best I can for KC. Last year, it did not end well for us and I feel that there is a responsibility in me to play the contract that I initially signed to give Kansas City and the organization of the bosses everything I have and that is what I am going to do, man.”
Kelce said his decision to return was based on the feeling and “pure feeling.”
“It is similar to all the decisions I make. It is out of the sensation,” he added. “I am not largely the pros and cons and all that, pure feeling. I love this game, and I love to enter the building with the boys who are there.”
Travis Kelce’s podcast confirms his NFL return with the wink to the legendary scene ‘Wolf of Wall Street’
The closed wing of the Kansas City Chiefs, Travis Kelce, #87, celebrates after catching a pass during the second half of a game of divisional playoffs of the NFL football AFC against the Houston Texans on Saturday, January 18, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
“The coach (Andy) Reid has been one of the greatest influences of my life, not only in the football game. And I do not want to stop working with him. I do not want to stop learning from him. I do not want to stop being the reason why he succeeds or be part of the reasons why he succeeds. I want that guy to have the greatest success in the world because he has been in my life.
“There are so many people in that building that I love with all my heart, man. I want to continue living those dreams and work with them. I never guessed it. Even when it became hard last year in the body or after the Super Bowl, and in its minimum of all time, there is something in a motivating factor that you can do this and want to do this. I took the trigger as soon as I had that feeling.”
Kelce said the loss of the Chiefs Super Bowl was probably “the most important factor” on his return, but said that they even won against the Eagles, he could still have returned.
“I want to say that it is a great way to leave, but still, I think I would still have this love for the game and I think I would have thought more if we had won. I think we lost and how we lost and only the feeling.
“The end of that game, I feel that I owe the boys who entered that building with much more effort and focus and simply I don’t know what was during that man. I wasn’t at my best.”
The closed wing of Kansas City Chiefs, Travis Kelce, #87, leaves the field after a defeat against the Eagles Philadelphia during the NFL Super Bowl Lix on Sunday, February 9, 2025 in New Orleans. (Photo AP/ABBIE Parr)
Kelce also said he thinks he can be a better player than him last season.
The NFL veteran was still productive last season, but his yards (823) and TouchDowns (3) in the regular season this year were the lowest he has had in the full season.
If the Chiefs will return to the Super Bowl for the fourth consecutive season next year, they will need their closed star wing to be at their best.
